Speedier Visas

Submitted by Anonymous on February 18, 2005 - 4:00am

A Government Accountability Office report [1] released Friday finds that the average time foreign scholars and students must wait for a key federal visa review has shrunk to about two weeks from more than two months last year, according to the Associated Press.[2]

College officials and advocates for international students have been concerned that visa problems and security concerns have deterred many students and scholars from seeking to come to the United States, and caused major headaches for those who've tried.

According to the AP article, the GAO report released today found that the average wait for the Visas Mantis review, which is a security check for visa applicants who would be working with sensitive technology, had declined to 15 days from 67 last summer.